Dragon Panther II in 1:35

[Guest]

As the tank itself never existed, the choice of camo scheme is totally up to you! How about a digital scheme? I've always fancied doing one on a Heer '46 vehicle myself.

[Guest]

MMmmmm....nice work

[monica]

looking good,Ryan,nice work so far,

[Guest]

really nice ryan , my , but their is a lot of P E in this kit ,and you are doing a great job of it ,

[Guest]

That is a beast of a kit there Ryan. Nice work on the side skirts there.

[Guest]

Thanks you guys!! The comments mean a lot as a beginning modeler (somewhat). Even though I've finished a couple and worked on building several more, I feel like a puppy compared to a dog. Even if the puppy is fully grown in size, it has yet to mature and reach "doghood."

I got a small update. I primed everything, but with difficulty. I have to prime outside because my brother doesn't want it in the house (fair enough) and the garage is full. It was very windy yesterday thanks to a big storm that rolled in. I was in the middle of priming when it began to drizzle rain!! Some drops got on the wet primer, forming bubbles and whatnot. Even the parts that weren't rained on had bubbles or bumps, probably due to the wind or humidity. This is Florida after all.

Everything all together.



Here is a close up on the areas I had to sand down due to bumps and bubbles. Thankfully the side skirts didn't have much wrong with them in the way of bubbles.




The texture issues that persisted will be eliminated by the time I paint everything, I think. The gun barrel had a massive buildup on the end that has been nicely sanded down too, but it's hard to see in pictures because of the curvature of the barrel and the lighting.

So now my plans for camo schemes... I've decided to go with an octopus scheme, with a base coat of black to darken all the colors I will put on top. Here's my logic behind this: The octopus pattern was slated to be introduced in June of 1945. However only ONE vehicle was ever painted with it by war's end, that being the famous King Tiger of Kassel. It was built with parts presumably lying around the factory, and sent out to defend that very factory. Images are on Google, just search "Kassel King Tiger" if you aren't familiar with that tank.

Anyways, since Panther IIs "would" have gone into production in late 1945 or early 1946, it makes sense that this one be painted in octopus camo. HOWEVER, mine will differ from the Kassel KT in that I will paint it in a tricolor octopus pattern, not the bicolor as seen in the photos of that tank. I think I'll go with green base coat, then stripes/curves of yellow and red-brown, with green circles. I had two other ideas on how to make it a tricolor scheme, but ask if you want to hear them. c:

That's all for now, I will work on this as much as I can! I LOVE this tank!

[Guest]

@steve5 Thanks bud! I felt like I did a messy job with the PE for the engine deck, as there is dried super glue residue everywhere! ): But upon getting to the side skirts and supports, I figured out how to apply them neatly!

@Builder Thanks man! ^_^ I had to be real careful with those hooks since they are so small. One part of a hook actually snapped off and I lost it, so I had to be extra careful. As for the skirts themselves, I hope I don't accidentally break them off! That would be a disaster. But true to life, as they were known to be flimsy and easily knocked off!

monica Thanks Moni! Always a pleasure seeing you here. I think you'll like the camk I planned!

@dubster72 I don't think I'm anywhere near skilled enough for a digital camo yet, haha!

@Polux col68 Thank you! ^_^

[Guest]

Alright guys, here is a picture I made from three images from Google. I used it to test my four variations of octopus camo. Only the bicolor one was used in the war, but I wanted a tricolor since the bicolor looks too bland for me lol.

I feel kind of odd/special for creating a variation on a real-life camo to predict what they might have actually used as the war progressed (had it not ended in May 1945 in Europe). You know what I mean? Just a strange feeling, like I'm going back to that time and writing my own bit of history.

Sorry for the poor quality of the image editing, I was hurrying. xD The key explaining each variation is below the image. Please post your votes! I personally like 4 and 1.



1: Green base
yellow stripes/curves
red-brown circles

2: Bicolor

3: Green base
yellow & red-brown stripes/curves
green circles

4: Green base
Yellow & red-brown stripes/curves
Yellow circles in red-brown areas, red-brown circles in yellow areas

[monica]

that's a bit of a hard one,Ryan,I tend to go for 4,

[Guest]

I'd go for no. 1 Ryan. On 3 & 4 the red-brown seems to dominate too much.

[stillp]

2.

[Guest]

I like 2 . the colours seem to work better together

[Guest]

I agree the red-brown does seem to dominate a lot, but I think that owes to me not trying to shade the image at all after I edited specific sections. :P

Thanks for your feedback so far, hopefully more comment! Right now of everyone I've asked, the votes are:

1: 5 votes
2: 4 votes
3: 4 votes
4: 1 vote

Sorry monica , it seems like nobody likes poor number 4! xD I thought it was a clever scheme but it reminds me a lot of ambush.

[monica]

oh lol,
see no one likes the red/brown,as I do,

[Guest]

oh lol,
see no one likes the red/brown,as I do,

Don't worry, I do! ^_^ I think it looks more well-camouflaged and the colors are more evenly spread if some stripes are red-brown too. Also, how do I get the chipped-paint effect? I think I spray a steel color underneath the areas I want to chip, then what should I do?